Between
Asmaa Shehata
Dedicated
To the nymphs of the earth and the Knights of the heaven, To the soil irrigated with blood, To the eyes and the shreds leading up to Eden, To the veins riddled with shrapnels, To the prison walls captivating the purest in the homelands, To the hearts grasping hot coals despite tribulations
A poor printing and bad drafting paper spread throughout Egypt in the hands of
youth who knew nothing about it except its contents. They went to the markets and public places asking for signatures. That shedding blood sheet was called Rebel; signatures were provided in ignorance covered in the name of rebellion. The Egyptian media fed this practice. The June 30 was like the Festival Day of the Pharaohs magicians. Their goals were scattered, as their hearts were: some of them called for earlier presidential elections, others called for the unseating of the Islamic President, and others did not know what they wanted, or rather what was wanted to them. Meaningless alliances, fronts and coalitions arouse preparing for the witnessed day. The Islamists and many patriots realized the plot being hatched against the country and dignity. They decided to gather and demonstrate in Rabia Al-Adaweya Square. The June 30 came with a plot that was unfolded on July 3. It was that day when the Egyptian army cooperated with the Egyptian media that played a misleading role - as usual - in marginalizing those protestors who were in Rabia from the scene. On the other hand, they videoed the demonstrators against Pres. Mohamed Morsi at AlTahrir Square and Al-Itihadeya using the military helicopters whose shots exaggerated their actual numbers. Crowds scrambled to Rabia Square after President Morsi had been deposed and kidnapped to emphasize their stand supporting legitimacy and right and rejecting any negotiations with the military coup and its government. The game of transmitting rumors and false news began to defame the sit-in figures with the intent of dispersing the people around them. On the other hand, many of the leaders of the Muslim
Brotherhood and other Islamist parties have been detained. As a result, there was a strong reaction represented in the stability of the protesters and the increase of their numbers; so that the sit-in sites expanded to include Rabia Adaweya Square, AlNahda and Al-HarasAl-Gomhori. New sit-in sites emerged, such as Mustafa Mahmoud Square and Al-Alf Maskan Square, as well as the main squares in the governorates. This stability scared the coup forces, so they decided to try the first stage of the counter-violence against the peaceful protestors . Al-Haras Al-Gomhori Massacre: A Massacre of Worshippers (Dawn of July 8, 2013) Security forces opened fire on protesters during the dawn prayer till the early hours of the morning. Women and children were besieged in Al-Mustafa Mosque and were showered with gas bombs. This resulted in more than 111 martyrs, 1000 wounded and huge numbers of detainees. Having unveiled the face of brutal bloody coup, disseminating lies began. It was alleged that the demonstrators did initiate to open fire on the Republican Guard forces. There were other falsehoods which are destroyed by the true testimonies of the eyewitnesses and videos of the massacre. In fact, all the dead and wounded were protesters, and none of the officers or soldiers were injured except for an officer. It was said that he refused to murder people, so he was shot immediately by his leader. Al-Menassa Massacre (July, 27, 2013) The demonstrators withdrew from Al-Haras Al-Gomhori site to join those who were at Rabia Square. Throughout the period of the sit-in, their numbers increased that the sit-in expanded in Al-Nasr Road from Tiba Mall direction to reach a place called Al-Menassa (The Platform / The Monument). As the armies of occupation do, the Pro-Morsi demonstrators were surprised by the
* Rabia Square was selected for two reasons: not to engage in side-clashes with the protestors of Al-Tahrir Square and Al-Itihadeya Palace, and because Islamists gathered there before.
snipers bullets from all sides, especially after the soldiers came to Al-Azhar University buildings and showered them with live bullets with no humanity. The place was filled with pure blood and sheds; the martyrs were more than 136 and 4500 wounded. Arrests of the figures of the Islamic movement were made. They were prominently accused of inciting to kill demonstrators.
The demonstrators restored power quickly after the massacre. They assured they would continue till the return of the legitimate president Mohamed Morsi to his legal position. They received threats that the army would put an end, very soon, to their sit-in by dispersion. Helicopters continued throwing threatening papers on them in Rabia and Al-Nahda. The coup media did not stop misleading the society; they pictured the demonstrators at Rabia signal as a handful of armed traitors to the homeland aiming to destroy the State institutes. Ramadan (an Islamic month) finished, and Eid al-Fitr passed; however, the demonstrators over time were filled with faith and confirmation, and so continued their sit-in. They tried to secure their square - as much as possible - with sand borders and light stones. They guarded the square gates turn by turn expecting a near attack. In the early morning hours of August 14, 2013, a disaster struck. The army and the police killed more than 2000 martyrs. The names of 825 are mentioned here at the end of this document. There were, according to the narrations, more than 10,000 wounded, missing and detained. It was the most horrendous massacre in the Egyptian modern history. From the first moments of the army convoys breaking into the square, we begin our documentation and listening to eye-witnesses on this heinous crime; a crime that will remain a black stain on the pages of the coupists and their supporters either from thugs or delegators. But first we ask Allah for righteousness and stability.
* Steadfastness in the Dispersion Massacre: Rabia Square was crowded with thousands of people sitting-in: youth, elderly,
men, women, and children. Daylight was accompanied by inhuman men, or beasts, whose only job was to snipe and kill. In such a scene, people only think of escaping from death and bullets. No one expects that the weaponless sits in, who have nothing but their faith, could face the nowadays Mongols. Notwithstanding, to be truthful with God is beyond any expectation and exceeds the limits of human imagination; this was their lethal weapon. It was this sincerity to what they say or do that made them heroes for generations to come, even after a long period. Their faith was heart-rooted to bring them closer to the Prophet Mohammads kith and martyrs. Testimonies are documented to be words of glory and dignity.
* The first moments: The attack on Rabia Al-Adawiya Square began at six oclock in the morning from
a place called Tiba Mall on Wednesday, August 14, 2013. Dr. Mohammad Esam Mansoor: We slept an hour and half after dawn till 6:00 a.m. We woke up when everybody was shouting: Emergency! Emergency! Everyone went to his spot preparing the first aids. Niveen Khalil: I prayed the dawn prayer by the Platform. At 6:00 a.m., Dr. Beltagy asked everyone in tents to go there.
Doaa Eweida: At 6:00 a.m., I woke up upon hearing one of us asking everybody in tents to get out, since the shooting started by Tiba Mall. I woke my sister up quietly to go together to the Platform where we found Dr. Salah and Dr. Safwat also calling people to get out of their tents
Hamdi Ahmed Khalil: The incidents began at 6 o'clock a.m. I was there. The attack started from a place called Tiba Mall overlooking Nasr Road and from all the main and sub-streets. Clouds of tear gas covered the place. Snipers were on the around buildings; and helicopters were hovering above our heads as if we're in a battlefield.
Abdullah ELSharkawy: I woke up at nearly 6:30 a.m. to hear the news that the killers had begun their attack from Tiba Mall direction. We began to move our martyrs and wounded. A helicopter was flying at a low height. Strong tear gas bombs fell heavily, penetrating the eyes, the respiratory system, and the nervous system.
Amr Albeheery: I was in the mosque when I heard a sudden sound outside. I got out and found attack and retreat, gas bombs, and the police with seven armored vehicles. Rokaya Mohammad Alkhodary: Dr. Beltagy told us that the armored vehicles of the police and army are on their way to the square. So, everybody kept shouting Stand and protect your square! At 6:55 o'clock a.m, we saw a black thick smoke coming from Tiba Mall side. We heard sounds of firing shots onto all the square sectors.
The first two martyrs in the Dispersion Massacre - Camera: Bahaa Arrazy
Aalaa Abdarraheem: I woke up terrified on hearing the sound of the shooting so close to us at Tiba Mall street. It was the first attack on this area. It always happened at the Monument Street and Attayaran Street. The shooting was continuous and loud. There were different sounds of various weapons. Nearly every minute, a specific sound, louder and clearer than the others, was heard out of a bullet shot. Later on, I knew that it was the snipers
Mahmood Alameer: When we first heard the shooting sound, there were neither microphones to warn nor fire engines to disperse us with water inside the square. As for the outside, the inhabitants said that microphones and fire engines were used, but this is not certain because, unfortunately, no one of those who were outside is still alive. Esmaeel Arafa: I woke up almost at 6:30 a.m. to hear the demonstrators' calling Allah is Great along with the sound of shooting. I ran out of the tent to check the situation. Everybody was ready and the first gas bomb came from Tiba Malls direction. I ran back to the tent to put the mask and wear my shoes. We thought the shooting was coming from one direction, but we saw smoke emitting from the direction of Kentucky Restaurant at Attayaran Street. We knew they became insane and began the dispersion. The worst we imagined was that they would disperse us in three streets and leave the fourth for us to escape. However, after fifteen minutes, we realized that we had been under attack from all ways in and Al-Sisy started a complete genocide.
Doaa Emad: I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and everyone was yelling: Wake up! The army is getting ready to shoot. I got up scared and ran out of the tent.
Dr. Omama Al-Husseiny: It was 6:30 a.m. when one of my sisters entered the tent I was sleeping in. She woke me up saying: Omama! Wake up; the tanks are heading to the square, coming from Tiba Malls direction. Ahmad Alkooly: The break-in began with direct strikes using live bullets that I myself saw a wounded man whose hand was torn to pieces by bullets. They did not stop our sit-in with water or gradual steps as they claimed. Otherwise, the first step they meant was firing the live bullets; what followed was even worse.
Ahmad Al-Kholy: The police weapons varied between heavy machine guns, gas and sonic bombs, or cartridges. Snipers were everywhere. There was also a helicopter that was hovering at a low altitude. Esmaiel Arafa: Bullets of all kinds: grenof, machine guns, pistols and cartridges. There were snipers on the buildings and helicopters.
Emad Eddin Al-Sayed: There were many hunting lines. A sniper took a line crossing the square. Anyone crossed the line would be murdered at once so that people could not gather and be in scattered groups. A sniper's task was to cut the aids' lines. We saw many murdered before us on those lines. I was able to video with Mohammad Maher on a front line behind Rabi'a mosque. Unfortunately, I was caught and hit, and my camera was confiscated.
Fatima Khalid: I saw a martyr whose intestines were put over his body in a plastic bottle. Ismael Arafa: I saw someone with a bullet in his head. He could be cured; however, there was no place. I saw a woman carrying her dead baby and did not know what to do. I saw a martyr with a half skull. I saw fingers and legs cut, and eyes out of their heads.
Dr. Omama Al-Husseini: I saw strange injuries. Other than the normal cartridge, there was another kind of cartridges that exploded inside the body. Bullets like gears with pointed edges were pulled out of bodies. There were body-penetrating bullets, cartridge bullets shot in the eye and head, and gas bombs exploding over peoples heads causing immediate death. I saw heads separated from their bodies and saw cut hands and arms. We relieved whoever we could and referred the critical cases to Rabi'a Medical Center.
Dr. Fatma Bayyad: All the dead were as if killed by a canon; heads were burst and wounds reached 20cm.
Dr. Lamya Mayar: I have little experience in forensic medicine, war wounds and surgery. But awkward questions raised here: Which shot having power to destroy the thoracic cage and cause a 10 x5 cm diameter hole?! Which shot having power to fragment the arm and turn it into a big paste?! Which shot having power to fragment the head as if it was run over by a car?! Which shot having power to cut flesh and bones into pieces and cut the face into two?! Which INNOCENT shot having power to fragment the jaw to make a mass of flesh, bone, skin and blood?!
Dr. Ahmad Fahmy: The first wounded got in the hospital dying; he was shot in the chest. The second was shot in the head and part of his brain was out. The third's whole brain was in the hands of someone carrying the body.
Mohammad Khalid Al-Dib: A man over 60 was carried into Rabi'a martyrs morgue, Media Center previously. I was shocked and yelled at people not to look at him, but this attracted them to look and ask for a physician. I went to check him, but found his skull was crashed and his brain was out. What is horrible is that despite this, he was still alive. I kneeled and didn't know what a book of medicine might state how to treat such a case. The man was uttering something, but all I could do is to put his skull together and put his brain back, then I left. Everybody, among them was his son, yelled at me: Do something! Tell us what to do! I explained the case to them that any attempt to save his life would torture him and we should let him rest in peace. I left him. My heart was filled with utter helplessness, a feeling that overwhelmed the place. Even senior and clever physicians did not know what to do with such a case. For half an hour, the man was dying. I passed by every ten minutes; his soul was coming out more and more, taking my own soul in weakness and pain. How the coupists want us to go on our lives as normal and sane in a society that hailed what happened to us? Only one word can describe how I felt: impotence. Allah will suffice us against those who killed us and those who were content with it.
I saw a young man as soon as I moved beside, a bullet shot him in the neck raising his index finger and saying, There is no God but Allah. Then, he died as a martyr with a smile on his face. I saw a person who was severely injured by a cartridge; however, he bandaged his injury so fast and went back to the confrontation, standing in front of a huge army with a stone in his hand. I remember a fasting woman who refused to have Iftar (breaking ones fast) as she loves to meet Allah in the Heaven while fasting. Ramy Foad Hafez: There was a woman weeping as her son was bleeding heavily. There was a child who was trying to awake his dead father. A fountain of blood was pouring from the injured and drowning the coat of the doctor who was trying to prevent bleeding. A nurse fell on the floor and said while weeping Why is that? Why is that? A man was crying while carrying his brother with part of his brain visible out of the broken skull. Anonymous corpse was thrown there. There was also a man whose heart has stopped and at least 15 doctors rallied around him trying to revive him. Another man was carrying a corpse while insulting and crying. I saw a doctor who lost his nerve and began yelling here and there. I saw a young excellent doctor who was trying to stitch an injured, but his hand was shivering, so the needle fell 10 times at least. A slightly injured man was shocked by the horror of what he saw. He prayed for us, left the reception room, pressed his injury with gauze, and said Thanks be to Allah that I'm alive and able to breathe. A worker was pushing with a venous device in his hand, but his foot slipped in a pool of blood. Another old man slipped in it when he was pulling my shirt; he cried and said, I know that you are so busy, but my son is almost dead and I want to be sure of his death by any doctor before burying him. Maybe he's still alive; so I wouldn't be unjust to him. I went to check his son and found that half of his head was not there. I looked into the grieved father's eyes. Speechless! He then understood and said to me, Thanks son. He carried his dead son and left!
Hager Khalid: I saw bulldozers running over the martyrs and their belongings with no sanctity or shame. Moreover, I saw police and army officers sharing the properties of the dead, what is left or fit for use.
Ahmed Alkholy: Unforgettable women: I remember a woman wearing two gowns, breaking bricks and putting the pieces in her outer gown transferring them to the front lines for defence. Another woman did not stop motivating men and reminding them of Du'a (prayer). She was moving among us infecting us with a strange positive energy. I am not exaggerating if I say that the woman kept doing so for not less than seven hours.
Unforgettable Men: A supermarket owner closed his shop but left all the fridges of Pepsi and juice available. Demonstrators took the goods and put the money in the fridge drawer. No one ever stole or took something for free, but rather sometimes they put more money when they did not find change. I remember a man, all along the month of Ramadan*, telling the people when Dawn was about to come, Have your Suhoor* first, then give me money. If I hadn't witnessed those scenes myself, I would have said that they are mere stories and tales.
Doaa Oweida: When I reached the field hospital gate, I was astounded and dismayed by what I witnessed. The street which was full of vibrant tents changed; ashes and bullets everywhere; a mixture of heavy blood and ashes covered the ground. The state of the ground nauseated me; ashes mingled with water in attempts to extinguish the
fire. This all was covered with heavy blood while the dead and injured ones were crammed into the hospital to the extent that the by-stander was afraid of disturbing their continuous passing.
Naglaa Salih: The field hospital was completely filled with corpses; what you have seen in the videos is nothing! Corpses were on the four floors. We began to treat the injured at the Media Center and Rabi'a Al-Adaweya Masjid as the field hospital was full. The hospital began shrouding the bodies of martyrs without washing and wrote down their names as seen in order to facilitate recognizing them by their families.
Mahmoud Al-Amir: I entered Rabi'a Medical Center to search for the corpse of a close friend, but I found that most of the storeys were filled with martyrs lined beside each other. Later on, I knew that at the end of dispersing Rabi'a sit-in, all floors were full of martyrs. The center was showered with bullets piercing the walls. A young woman called Asmaa Sakr was standing while a bullet penetrated the wall and killed her in the head. A relative of mine narrated that he was standing in a room of the floor where the bullet penetrated the wall and many others before it. Ahmed Elkholy: After 45 minutes of dispersing the square, a doctor at the main field hospital located on AlNasr road between the traffic and Rabi'a Al-Adawiya Masjid told me that about 40 persons roughly lost their lives; i.e., every minute a person died, mostly by live ammunitions. I myself saw such strange kind of ammunition which cut the flesh of the injured. Unbelievable! I will not talk about the number of children and infants whom I found suffering from severe gas asphyxiation. I was discharged from the hospital to leave a place for any of the injured in need. .
Dr. Ahmed Elsroi: Aircrafts monitored the protection of some demonstrators at the field hospital, which was consequently shot many times. We all lied down due to the heavy tear gas bombs and bullets. Eventually, the forces stormed the hospital and fired tear gas five meters distance at the hospital which was crowded with the wounded. All doctors, pharmacists and volunteers, including students at the Faculty of Medicine, and all suffocated patients were arrested. No one knows the fate of the wounded by live bullets, including four serious cases. Then, the hospital was entirely burned, including the drugs, devices and supplies. I don't know if there were wounded persons left inside or not! Abdullah Mustafa: I photograhed the dead and wounded in the field hospital until a central security armored vehicle entered the hospital and threw a gas bomb. Then, it fired multilive bullets even though the hospital contained only the corpses, wounded, doctors, journalists or those who assisted at transferring the corpses and injured. When the hospital was shot, its glass was broken and six people were killed, including a person who was beside me and was shot in the head, and many were wounded. Shooting lasted for 7 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, all people lied on the ground, and the wall bricks were flying and hitting our heads. They kept firing tear gas. After shooting stopped, I searched for Omar, but I didn't find him. I called his name, but there was no answer. I went downstairs to escape the gas and then went upstairs from another way. When I looked at the other door from the other way of the hospital, I observed that they set fire on it, and the people advised us not to exit from this way because it was not safe anymore. At that moment, the soldiers came in and threatened to kill anyone they would see. Dr. Ahmed Fahmy: We heard that the policemen were evacuating the hospital. Consequently, I went upstairs to ask for the administrative hospital team who was approximately on the fifth floor. The smell of tear gas was fatal. Does criminality reach that extent of shooting a hospital with live bullets and tear gas? I went downstairs with some doctors in attempt to vacate it from the dead and wounded. It was disastrous not to find someone who could carry the wounded. We had to leave many of the wounded people in their last throes dying as we could not carry them. The soldiers shot some of them dead while we were watching and could do nothing.
Rokaya Mohamed Elkhodary We entered the center, but it was completely full of dead and wounded people. Blood was everywhere, and so was the congestion of those alive! We went upstairs, but we found all the floors even more crowded! On the second floor, we saw the martyrs set beside one another and their faces were like a shining moon.
Dr. Omama Al-Husseiny: Rabi'a Mosque and the meeting hall No. 2 were turned into two field hospitals that began to receive the dead and wounded people. The space was not enough for the massive number of the dead and wounded. Those whose wounds could be healed even temporarily were transferred to the demonstrators' tents in front of Rabi'a AlAdaweya Masjid and Medical Center. Nevertheless, the Masjid as well as the hall was congested with bodies of martyrs and the wounded that were thrown on the floor, heavily bleeding from every part of their bodies. The corpses of martyrs were moved to another hall inside the Masjid and tents free spaces in the hospital for the injured. Before Al-Zuhr prayer (A Muslims' prayer after midday), the new wounded were transferred to Rabi'a Al-Adaweya Medical Center since the field hospitals could not receive new cases anymore. I entered the hospital to find it on fire. I looked for my relatives who were sitting there, but none was there. The place was utterly burning. There remains some of the wounded people not moved from the hospital yet. I went out from the hospital
door (the meeting hall no.2) and found my friends going out from the Masjid door as well. At Rabia Center, the doctors were forced to leave the place and the wounded even if they were at the process of doing an operation. Dr. Fatma Bayad: Suddenly, the burst sound became closer. The hospital and the hall were targeted by helicopters that launched tear gas bombs. Our emergency plan was to get rid of our medical ID and to get on civil wear instead of the operation scrub of doctors. We were informed that we could transfer the injured to Rabi'a Medical Center. However, as soon as we began to transfer them, we heard the sound of bursts along with tear gas bombs thrown at anyone who just came close to the front door of the medical center. We had to use the tail-door while we were bowing our heads in order not to be shot with a bullet. The volunteer doctors from the field hospital entered and got ready; the center had been informed of the possibility of dispersing the sit-in, so there was only one doctor and one male nurse. Once the people knew that we had moved Rabi'a Medical Center, the wounded automatically were referred to us. Most of injuries were fatal as usual; however, the existence of an operation room gave a glimpse of hope to those who were in bad need of a surgery. The matter got worse as we put two operation beds inside one room. When I went upstairs, I found a wounded person on a bed and at least three others on the floor of the same room waiting for their turn of surgery. Of course, the numbers of surgeons were not enough, nor were the room capacity and potentialities. I left the operation room to find a corridor before the operation rooms crowded with the lined wounded whose wounds varied from light to middle and severe, but according to the medical and surgical standards, they could be healed. Unexpectedly, the hospital walls were badly shaken by a bomb burst I didn't know its kind. Tear gas bombs were being thrown inside the hospital entrance. We were certain of the fatality. I looked out from the back window, but all I found were the wounded and their relatives. I told them about the hospital attack and that they would be arrested. Then, I went back to the hospital yard and saw a Special Forces officer dressed in black and was holding a weapon demanding not to ask him about the type of the gun, whether automatic or not, in order not to disclose his ignorance
of weapons. Afterwards, he shouted at us to go out immediately. We said aloud: We are doctors and those are wounded, so we cant leave them behind. He sternly said: Either you leave or stay with them. One of the wounded had fractions due to live bullets, so a doctor wanted to take him, but the officer threatened him to break his legs or force him to stay with him if he did so. The situation was hard and depressing! I waited to see what would happen. I saw that officer forcing the medical staff to go out from the front door of the center overlooking the Anwar Elmofti Street. I evaded them and went back again to the hospital garden from the rear door of the center to be with the injured who were in the garden to the last second. There was a very horrible scene; everything was being burned, the Masjid, the field hospital and the media center!!! Dr. Lamia' Mayer: At 09:00 a.m., a march came while I was hiding. I went with them to El-Tayaran Street then to the Masjid and the field hospital again, but I was amazed by what I saw; I left the hospital only for one hour, but when I returned to the external corridor where I was working, I found it topsy-turvy. The beds were upturned, plaster and cast sacks and the contents of lockers were thrown on the floor and so were the plants and everything. I asked people about what happened, but no one knew anything, and those who knew were dead or escaped. Some people told me that the soldiers threw a bomb on the corridor; others said that it was a tear gas bomb thrown at the heart of the corridor. Until now I don't know what happened! I entered the hall no. 1. Dozens of the wounded and the dead were still there, but the aids were hardly there. My colleagues were struggling; I helped them as I could, for I was semi-comatose moving as a machine. Later on, a new order was issued to move all the injured, wounded and medicines to Rabi'a Medical Center behind the Masjid to vacate the field hospital. All that was done and I was broken-down on the ground. I found the hall No. 2 full of dead; and the hall No.3 full of the dead and wounded. I left the beloved field hospital that became empty except for some women who overslept due to exhaustion, two doctors and some workers. I took some supplies from the pharmacy and went to Rabi'a center, but I was astonished; five floors of the dead and the wounded. Nonstop whistles were calling to make a space, and bullets
were showered heavily. I was besieged inside Rabia Hospital where the shooting was before its main glass gate and its small rear gate. The soldiers directly targeted both gates and they were thoroughly smashed. They began to fire inside the hospital with gas bombs and we got suffocated. I descended to the ground floor where someone splashed Pepsi at my face and gave me water to drink. I went upstairs again with a man; the first floor was like a pool of blood. In front of us there was an armored vehicle calling for a safe leave. He pulled my hand and we left the place with others raising our hands. However, bullets were showered heavily, so we ran to the hospital and told him that they would arrest everyone getting out of here. However, we took the risk and changed our way to the field hospital and Masjid. I was dismayed by what I saw: the field hospital was so cruelly burning and thick black smoke rushed everywhere. I saw men, women and children crowded between the halls on fire and the Masjid on a mini Resurrection Day. I saw men's defeat, killing the Egyptians in the streets, setting the mosques and hospitals on fire, as well as burning women and children! I witnessed genocide! Trees, masjids, hospitals and tents were all burned. Did they use napalm?!! Maybe! Fire was unnatural. It was not logical to cause such burning with a match and gas! The number of burned organs I saw was unbelievable. Did they kill people alive? Yes, they killed them directly with bullets or by burning them alive to avoid their testimonies on what happened!
Dr. Hassan Al-Prince: The mother of all crimes was setting a massive fire to the hospital including the injured and corpses of martyrs in order to hide a part of crime!
Some of corpses which were dried after burning were taken and wrapped in shrouds under the rostrum to claim that these corpses were victims of demonstrators and were buried under it. This lie can be rebutted as follows: 1- The new shrouds had no dust or blood. 2- Hundreds of Egyptians and foreigners who visited Rabia Square inspected under the rostrum. 3- We did not learn about any reports of missed people all the period of the sit-in long. 4- How were those corpses burned by demonstrators with no smell or smoke while the rostrum was on air and surrounded with thousands of people all the period of the sit-in? 5- The rostrum base was wooden and flammable, and under it there were cables and computer wires that controlled the broadcast and montage that published songs and parts of the legitimate presidents speeches. 6- We did not see any digging by pro-coup under the rostrum immediately after breaking it down. If this had been done, they would not be hesitated to broadcast it live by pro-coup media. 7- Neither the police nor the army did take sniffer dogs in order to detect the places of the buried corpses in all TV shots that were broadcasted.
Belal Wahb We weren't defeated and didn't withdraw. The ground which is beneath us testifies. We were burned as standing trees until their ripest fruits were fallen down; i.e., martyrs O Square! If your ground lasted longer before that incineration, we would stand still in the face of death another day! Doaa Eweida: We went out but couldn't stop our tears being forced to leave the square in that way. As soon as we went out, we heard, from a short distance, a strong sound and saw thick black smoke over the square from the place which we went out. Then we knew that the criminals have forced the doctors to get out so that they could set fire to the field hospital housing the martyrs and wounded remained inside. We went out of the square with bleeding hearts just saying 'Allah is sufficient for us and He is our best Guardian.'
Naglaa Salih When I went to an exit through Rabi'a hospital, I found the officers shooting people. The ground was full of blood. Suddenly an officer said, Come here and get out... There were a lot of injured persons behind me. I passed through the door then to the street unbelieving that he didn't kill us. A friend told me that a fire engine sprayed Rabi'a Mosque and its field hospital with petrol. Rabi'a then was burned. I also knew from Bisan Essam, a friend of mine who's a doctor, that the policemen ordered the doctors to leave without any wounded people; otherwise they will be burned as well. All Rabi'a and whoever there were burned.! Roqia Mohammed Al-Khodary I went down, with Khadiga and Marwa and was shocked to see the policemen on the ground floor dressed in black uniforms, clutching their rifles, and looking at us with a gloating smile saying, To stay at home is better, isn't it? Come, come and don't worry, we wont harm you. We came out of the hospital through the back door, overlooking Anwar Al-Mofty St. behind Rabi'a's Mosque. People left exactly like war captives.!
Hager Dawood We exited surrounded by the Special Police forces and armored vehicles. They hurled their insults at us, and in return we said, Allah is Sufficient for us and He is our best Guardian. Most of us were either the hospitals doctors or women. Fatima Khalid : This scene of our exit from the mosque was unforgettable. We went out as prisoners of war. There were armed people on the two sides pointing their weapons to our faces and wearing black uniform. Their bodies are wrapped by weapons called special band. We were forced to pass between them and knew that this was a safe exit!! How? When we were going out, there were guns shooting at us. Martyrs were being carried by people walking. Our great army and honorable policeman were laughing and standing upon the armored military vehicle sticking out their tongues! ! - Aisha Emad: It was more comfortable to die as a martyr than to exit like that. I stopped and looked at the martyrs saying, You're fortunate! However, I saw the armored military vehicle running behind us; it was inevitable to walk. Those infidels went out from their burrows gloating over us but we were trustful in God's victory Allah is our Guardian. We walked in the streets and we didn't know where we were going. An armored military vehicle and a police's vehicle came by us shooting to frighten us. We passed by some thugs who were dancing, cheering and using fireworks. Then we went to AlZahraa Masjid with Port Said Brothers (Ikhwan). - Doaa Emad: All of us left the Monument Street Alnosb Eltezkary. Men were forced to raise their hands during exit as war captives. They were hit and insulted. If anyone uttered a word, the officers would shoot beside or above him, or even in the leg. They fired their weapons while they were ordering us. For example, one was ordered by the officer to show the identity card with a fire shot, a mean and coward act.
Mohammed Basuony We were ordered by an officer to a certain direction; however, there was an ambush. We found more officers who dealt with us as detained Jews. They rudely insulted us and forced us to sleep on our stomach and put our hands behind our backs. They hit our heads with a machine gun to obey their orders quickly. They took our mobiles and identity cards. Then, another officer came and set us to an army ambush. The army abusively treated us more than the police did. I saw a cross on the hand of the military officer who ordered the soldiers to abuse us. Then a military senior came and ordered the officer to release us; consequently, we left the square. Amr Omran We left raising our hands and looking sharply at them feeling unsafe. The question raised then: 'How our God did create such creatures without any humanity?' They were looking on, gloating and insulting us: Syrians and terrorists you are! People were looking at us and photographing us; we then were certain that they lost their morals and humanity. We saw bared and trodden dead bodies of children and girls on the ground. We were frightened to put them a side or even to cover them up. Dr. Lamia Mayer: It was about six o' clock when I and my friends decided to exit from a safe way. I went out with a group of people, with a final look at the officers in black military suits and masks holding very enormous weapons. Their skin was also swarthy; their bodies were so huge. They deployed on the ground floor where we were besieged. The armored vehicle was standing directly in front of the main door; there was a monster inside it yelling, The person who is going to exit now will be safe. We said, Allah is sufficient for us.. Hager Khalid During vacating the square, they allowed the people to exit as prisoners of war putting their hands on their heads or behind their backs. Anyone who put on a mask was beaten nearly to death and then thrown at us.
Gehad Khalid Hefzy When we were going out of the square, we were photographed as prisoners of war. We were sorted at the barriers to take men and let women go. We were insulted, menaced and threatened by the scoundrels. If they say that here are the photos of surrendering citizens and they sympathized with them, and so let them leave peacefully, they will be liars. We went out after we were slaughtered and choked to get our children back home and then exit to complete. If they say that they did not harm anyone after dispersing, they will be liars. After we had been photographed and during our exit, we were chased in the street by their bombs and shotguns. They even shot the mosque during the Maghreb prayer, and the Imam asked them on the microphone to stop shooting till completing the prayer. Romysaa Ramadan Whenever I listen to someone who witnessed the dispersion of Rabia's sit-in, I find implications I didn't hear before. Hardly one finds a story similar to the other, as if there were one hundred thousand squares equivalent to the number of the people there. On that day, everyone was running, observing, recording with his eyes and narrating his own story. I try to follow up everyone who witnessed that day and search for testimonies of all people. I try to stick puzzle pieces beside each other to complete the image, but it doesn't become idiomorphic. The more I hear and follow up, the more the image area expands. So I'm not able to know its dimensions. Rabia's dispersion is a historical incident; I think that many years will pass for one to be oriented of what has happened. Stories will not end throughout the years. We will hear a new thing we have never heard. Many years will pass to see the image clearly idiomorphic. .
* Al-Iman Mosque:
Given the location of the mosque, located near the end of Makram Ebeid Street from Nasr Road direction and due to its proximity to Rabi'a Al-Adaweya sit-in, sitters were able to move many of the dead and wounded to the mosque to protect them from the savagery of bulldozers and inhuman fires launched during the break-in. A lot of volunteers moved to the mosque to treat the wounded and to shroud the dead. They wrote the data of each martyr on the shroud to facilitate the access of their bereaved families, and to resolve the difficulties these families would face while obtaining the burial permits issued in coordination between the Ministry of Health, the Public Prosecution and the Forensic Medical Authority. On the other hand, the people of the district transferred the corpses surrounding the Mosque by their private cars to the Zeinhom Mortuary until Thursday morning, August 15, 2013. Local and foreign newspaper correspondents came to Al-Iman Mosque to take photos and make an interview with the relatives of the victims. Some correspondents who supported the coup were disguised in fear of the reaction of the people. The news said that the number of corpses was more than 228. It was difficult to determine the accurate number as the corpses were transferred outside the Mosque after the relatives had identified them. Workers inside the mosque assured that these numbers did not include the reports of the Ministry of Health, which proves that the number of victims was more than the formal statistics.
The efforts of the workers and voluntary doctors inside the mosque continuously exerted, not only for one or two days, but also for three days. They were willing persons whose trends and visions are different, or persons who disagreed with the Ikhwan Group threatening the comeuppance for those martyrs. The voluntary doctor Mustafa Abd El-Ghany assured that there were a lot of unknown corpses charred as a result of burning the tents and the Field Hospital of Rabi'a Al-Adaweya which made it difficult for their relatives to recognize them. Sound amplifiers were used from inside the mosque urging the victims relatives to exit because of the hot atmosphere and suffocation caused by the intense crowd; the airconditioners and fans were not enough. The field hospital inside the mosque asked the volunteers to bring odor and cleansing materials because the smell of some of the dead began to be strong as time passed. The victims families and relatives started to transfer the corpses outside and Al-Iman Mosque to move them to Zeinhom Mortuary. A huge crowd was there; their yelling against the police was extremely strong accusing them of killing the victims during dispersing the sit-in. Since the Zeinhom Mortuary was asking the relatives to sign a report confirming that the deceased was committed suicide to obtain a burial permit, they declared their intension to start an open sit-in in the Mosque's area till they would receive and bury the dead. Many of them did the funeral prayer on the victims in El-Iman Mosque on Thursday morning, August 15, 2013. It is worth mentioned that the General Abd El-Fattah Othman announced a statement that the security forces detected a number of cars which carried corpses from different governorates, and the corpses were brought by Ikhwan and put in the mosque to be displayed as Rabia's victims. The corpses which were inside Al-Iman Mosque were exposed to attempts of stealing by the security forces to be buried in Rabi'a Al-Adaweya. They intended to accuse the peaceful demonstrators of murder and broadcast this on the TV channels supporting the military coup. As a result, the crimes of the coup regime increased. This tyrant regime is undoubtedly responsible for the killing and burning of the demonstrators in Rabi'a Al-Adaweya, and hence effacing the features of the crime.
* Zeinhom Mortuary:
To kill citizens by their armies of treachery and intrigue means nothing in comparison to the bargains made on the dead and to the salt poured on the wounds of the wounded. So did the great Army of Egypt, and did the families of the martyrs who tasted death many times. No longer in our country are reasons alone prone to become numerous versus a single death, but death varied too. There are people who were shot dead and others who died out of the atrocity of the horror scenes, etc. The violations of the Army were not limited to the bloodshed and killing, but they exceeded to include the sanctity of death. The army would nearly catch the processions of martyrs to their graves. Under the human laws, everything is respectable and sanctified when death comes. Even in the laws of the jungle, death becomes a red line not exceeded by beasts or cattle. Notwithstanding, a new barbarism embarked in our country and the meaning of sanctity vanished from all things. The families of the martyrs tried to heal their inner wounds and went to Zeinhom Mortuary to issue reports by the Forensic Authority, and consequently obtain the burial permits to coffin their martyrs and move them to their graves. They wished they knew the adversity which would await them. Not only were the tyrants burning, shooting and distorting, but they also forced the families of the martyrs who could identify the bodies of their loved ones to sign papers confirming that the deceased committed suicide. Martyrs are honored everywhere, but in Egypt, they are regarded as 'committed suicide'. Some people who wanted to honor their dead were forced to sign that paper. Others refused and protested in front of the mortuary until they could find a solution for their issue. The alternate solution was to have a report with scribbles written beside the cause of death!
A disastrous scene: a mother sitting beside her son's corpse thrown before the Mortuary where the blood prevailed. She waited for a change in the death cause for obtaining a burial permit. Marwa, a daughter of a murdered man, Ahmed Abd Elsamad, 48 years, said that Zeinhoum Mortuary asked her family to sign a report declaring that her father committed suicide in order to get a burial permit, though her father was shot dead with two bullets in his shoulder and back. Pierces by bullets in hearts and chests were not enough! Indeed, it is humanity that was pierced, ruptured and dispersed! Regarding her brother's murder, the actress Leqa'a Sweidan witnessed, on lots of TV channels, that a huge numbers of corpses were at Elkasr Eleiny Hospital and their relatives could not receive them. The hospital administration and the Ministry of Health evaded their responsibility of these corpses and the only way to accelerate the process of obtaining a Death Certificate was to sign a paper confirming that the deceased committed suicide. That was only if one was lucky and could identify the body as many dead were charred and could only be identified with the DNA test. There were mutilated bodies that no longer a mouth or a nose was identified. There were whole brains cast outside the skulls.
Amid all that misery, due to the crowd, blood and hot temperature of mid-August, corpses were thrown on the corridors of the Mortuary, even exceeding it to the surrounding streets and the side piles of garbage. The huge number of martyrs made it even harder for the families' dogged search process. Each family divided their members into groups whose tasks were to find out the dead not the living ones. In order that a girl could find her dead father, she had to unveil shrouds on hundreds of corpses in a horrible scene not knowing if she could at the end find him or would he be among those who were lost. The first night ended, but most of people did not find their dead relatives. The dead smell was extremely strong. Some people volunteered with refrigerator cars to accumulate corpses on them. When cars were full of corpses, people brought ice sacks to be put on the blooded shrouds.
In an interview with Al-Mesryoon Newspaper, Mohamed Abdel Aal, 42, resident at AlKobba Gardens in Cairo, said: I've come to Zeinhom Mortuary searching for my brother Ahmed Abdel Aal, 47, a driver, who was absent from home till now. I searched for him at the police stations as well as government and private hospitals; however, all these trials were in vain. Eventually, I came here to search for him among available and unknown corpses at the Mortuary but in vain. When the dead were displayed on TV, I couldn't identify my brother's body as most bodies were totally charred. Doctors there told me to leave my DNA sample in order to be conformed to the bodies in the Mortuary. The test result would be known in ten days. Mohamed Hasanein, 26, working for a private company in Cairo, is a witness inside Zeinhom Mortuary who spent 48 hours at the service of the bodies that were rotten due to the lack of enough refrigerators. He also assisted the doctors at necropsy operations without making the security men notice him. He said that he went to Zeinhom Mortuary on the day of dispersing Raba'a and Al-Nahda sit-ins as one of his friends' relatives was killed. His friend is called Haitham Al-Shawaf, a coordinator of the Revolutionary Force Coalition and a member of June 30 Ftont; he was killed at AlNahda Square incidents. When I went there, I found so many corpses around the Mortuary. Its capacity was not enough for such a massive number of dead bodies. On the next day, I wanted to go to the Mortuary to search for the corpse of my friend Waleed to bury it. When I was objected by the security men, I told them the reason why I wanted to enter it, and they allowed me only see a human disaster of violating the dead sanctity. All corpses were thrown on the ground. There was no human treatment in necropsy; there was no stitching of cut parts due to the lack of required materials. I tried to help the doctors and workers there. I moved the corpses thrown on the ground to the rooms designated for that. Also, I divided rooms into certain categories to enable necropsy of more corpses since many were thrown on the street surrounding the Mortuary for its incapacity to handle the huge number of corpses. Hasaneen added that because of the lack of refrigerators, people of Al-Saida Zeinab district covered corpses with lots of ice not to be rotten due to their stay on the streets for two days. They also gave shrouds to the relatives of the dead. It was a disaster that seemed not to end. Indeed, it will not end in the hearts of those who lived and witnessed it unless perpetrators are punished.
Massacre :
The forces did not shoot a single bullet. Officers and soldiers found bad-smelling shrouded bodies prepared to be filmed for the Western media. General Medhat Al-Menshawy, Commander of Special Forces, stated in an interview published by Alyoom Assabea newspaper..
Ashorook newspaper published an interposition in Hona Al-'Asima show with Hasan Moosa, the Head of the Central Security Forces: The sits in set fire to the cars in area and threw fire over the police men. They disregarded the warning to evacuate the square and cooperate with the police. When they blew up the gas station and fire engines, we had to use gas bombs heavily and surround them. Major Ashareef added: The Minister of Interior and the Commander of Special Forces recommended the forces to have self-control and secure the sits in, especially women and children.
In another interview with Al-Wafd newspaper, Major Bahaa Ashareef, Commander of Rabaa Operation, said: Gas and water were the only weapons used. We started with a warning by microphones and the help of inhabitants. Then we used sonic vibration vehicles followed by tear gas and water, heavily and occasionally, to secure a way out for them. The numbers did gradually decrease. We kept using gas for a long time to avoid bloodshed.
Abdulaal Al-DaidamonySharkeia
Abdulfattah AlbarbaryQalubeia
Abdulghafour Eid
Abdullah Sultan
Abdulnasser AggagDakahleia
Abdulrahman FaragCairo
Abdulrahman MetwallyIsmaelleia
Abdulrahman NaderCairo
Abdulrahman Oweis
Abdulrahman TahaDakahleia
Abdulreheem YoussefMenoufeia
Adel AbdulgawadQaliubeia
Adel Farghaly
Ahmed AbdulfattahCairo
Ahmed Abdulgawad
Ahmed Alsarawy
Ahmed AshrafDamietta
Ahmed KadryAlexandria
Ahmed SalahuldeenAlexandria
Ashraf Sadek
Ayman Zaki
Elsayed Bakry
Haitham ZannounMenofia
Hamoud ShalabyBehera
Hany AbdulrahmanDamietta
Haytham SharafMenofia
Hozaifa Abdulzaher
Khairy AlmeleegyMenofeia
Lotfy AbdulmagedAlexandria
Mahmoud Al-DengawyDamietta
Mahmoud HamedMenofia
Mahmoud RabeaSHarkia
Malek Al-AshmawyMenofia
Mohamed AbdulbasetCairo
Mohamed AbdulmawlaIsmaellia
Mohamed AbdulwahedSohag
Mohamed Al-SaadanyAlexandria
Mohamed Al-ShabrawySharkia
Mohamed Al-ShehabyDamietta
Mohamed Azab
Mohamed GamalQalubia
Mohamed Hassaan
Mohamed RamadanCairo
Mohamed SalahuldeenGiza
Mosaab Al-ShamyAlexandria
Mostafa AbdulgawadMenofia
Mostafa Al-Qersh
Osama Alserief
Osama EldesokyAlexandria
Sabry AbulgheitDakahleia
* Conclusion:
The book has ended but sadness will never end; it is the sadness of a stolen country. The pages have ended but they have not and will not be turned over yet. We have not documented the aforementioned pages calling for pride or fame out of sacrifices made by the best of Egypts people. No, we swear by almighty Allah -though we have the right to be proud - we have documented disastrous crimes the generations may forget if they are not written. We have shortened the story of Truth and Falsehood in a few lines that will not give those pure and worthy ones all or some of their rights as much as they deserve. It is so hard for our hearts to make the blood a narrated story and to make the dead people just numbers. This is not true, but we all will be in their debt our whole life; For those who had not been mentioned before those mentioned; For those who had been lost and disappeared before those who were mourned in great funerals; For those who had been put under bulldozers and in rubbish before those who died in front of cameras; For those whose faces had been distorted and their features had been disappeared before those smiled persons with bright faces; For every martyr, every wounded, every missed person and every detainee, who deserve to be an icon we have the honour to belong to it and be belonged to us; We have documented this work only for the sake of Allah then for history. For those of understanding and conscience would to think and be reminded;
For the honest and free people so as not to surrender for the striking power and tyrants; And for the ignorant to know which curse will follow them in this world and in the Hereafter; Unquestionably, this is the promise of Allah. Unquestionably, this is the promise of Allah.